Above: Dr. Alan Kaplan's First Place presentation slide of the late great urologist Joseph J Kaufman, M.D., pictured with his mentor, the late Willard Goodwin, M.D. (R). Dr. Kaufman had moved to Wailea, Maui and attended the WSAUA annual meeting at the Grand Wailea Resort 22 years ago in 1992 where he was honored as Distinguished Member.

Manage Chronic Kidney Disease with New GuideNational Kidney Disease Education Program The National Kidney Disease Education Program recently released a new guide (PDF) to help primary care providers manage chronic kidney disease. NKDEP developed the new guide to help healthcare professionals manage adult CKD patients in the primary care setting. The guide emphasizes the most important considerations for evaluating and managing CKD patients, including identifying and slowing progression among patients at highest risk for progression to kidney failure.'

'Jekyll & Hyde' Molecule Could Lead to Aggressive Prostate CancerRenal & Urology NewsResearchers who have uncovered the 'monstrous' hidden nature of a molecule involved in prostate cancer say the findings could herald a new form of personalized medicine for patients, with doctors able to use the same molecular target for diagnosis and treatment. In a series of two papers just published*, researchers at The University of Hull have shown that prostate cancer patients who have Endo180 protein present in their tumors tend to have more severe disease.

Discovery Could Lead to New Drugs to Stop Many Solid-Tumor CancersMedical XpressIn a step forward in the battle against cancer, researchers have identified promising compounds to inhibit a key driver of many forms of the disease, including lung, prostate, colon, bladder and pancreatic cancer. Until now, tumors caused by mutations of the gene Ras have stubbornly withstood numerous efforts to block their growth. "This has been a particular challenge," said researcher David Brautigan of the University of Virginia School of Medicine and the U.Va. Cancer Center.

Study: No Increase in CV Risk with TestosteroneUrology TimesTestosterone replacement therapy reduced men's overall risks for death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and stroke, as well as for death alone in a study presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in Chicago. Researchers from the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Murray, UT studied the health records of nearly 5,700 men, ages 53 to 71 years, who had been diagnosed with low testosterone levels at the Intermountain Healthcare system. They looked at the men's subsequent testosterone levels with treatment at 1 and 3 years. Primary outcomes included a composite of death, nonfatal heart attack, and stroke, and death alone.

Executive Action Could Open Medi-Cal to Undocumented ImmigrantsCalifornia HealthlineOn Thursday, Obama announced a plan to allow up to five million undocumented immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for at least five years and who have no record of felony offenses or serious misdemeanors to apply for a program to avoid deportation. Under federal law, such undocumented immigrants still are not eligible for health benefits under the Affordable Care Act, according to "State of Health."

Central Valley Undocumented Immigrants See Hope in Obama ActionThe Sacramento BeeOn Thursday, Nov. 20, Obama announced a plan to allow up to five million undocumented immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for at least five years and who have no record of felony offenses or serious misdemeanors to apply for a program to avoid deportation. The president’s actions are expected to allow as many as 5 million undocumented immigrants to seek protection from deportation if they have been in the country for five years and have no felony criminal offenses or serious misdemeanors. The president, meanwhile, pledged accelerated deportations of criminal offenders.

Insurers Draw Heat for Error-Riddled Provider DirectoriesModern HealthcareA ruling in California that two major health insurers failed to give consumers accurate information about providers participating in their plan networks could force others in the industry to quickly improve their protocols. The California Department of Managed Health Care released scathing reports Tuesday regarding plans sold by Anthem Blue Cross (a subsidiary of investor-owned WellPoint) and Blue Shield of California on Covered California, the state's Obamacare exchange.

AMA: Hospital Staff Should Consider Impact of CMS RuleHealthDay News via Physician's BriefingHospital medical staff members need to consider the impact of a final rule issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) that revised the conditions of participation for hospitals and made two major changes to the hospital governance, according to an article published by the American Medical Association (AMA). The rule relates to allowing multi-hospital systems to have a unified system-wide medical staff, which under the regulations may be possible only if the medical staff votes in favor.

Patients are Willing to Pay PAs and NPs, but Medicare Isn'tHealthcare Dive With the looming primary-care physician shortage, rising cost of healthcare and anticipated surge in patients, the need for PAs and nurse practitioners has never been greater. Perhaps a sign of the times, patients' acceptance of these clinicians as qualified caregivers on par with their regular physicians is at an all-time high. A recent online study of more than 1,500 U.S. adults, conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of the American Academy of Physician Assistants found that 93 percent of Americans who have interacted with a PA — including those who have accompanied a loved one to see a PA — in the last year agree that PAs are going to be part of the solution to address a shortage of healthcare providers.

That Medical Test Costs $50, or is it $500?The New York TimesSomeone else appears to be paying for our healthcare costs, so who cares how much it costs? To fight this, insurers continue to raise co-payments and deductibles, making us pay more in an attempt to reduce inefficient spending. But health care costs continue to rise. Recently, the agency that runs Medicare said that health spending would increase by 5.6 percent in 2014, 2 percentage points more than last year. Health care prices in the United States dwarf those of all other industrialized countries.

Patient Engagement and EHR TransparencyMediGainAs meaningful use stage 2 requirements come into focus for many practices, physicians and others may wonder about the benefit of patient engagement methods. One benefit beyond incentive payments may be more accurate records. Letting patients see their electronic health records (EHRs) in an unedited form could help improve outcomes, according to a piece at NPR.

Improving Communications: What can Hospitals Learn from Hotels?By Archita Datta Majumdar We live in an age where communication can make or break a deal. Doing it right has never been so important, yet there are more misunderstandings and misinterpretations all around. Ironic, isn't it? Since most have us become slaves to technology and instant communication, things actually can go wrong faster than ever before. There's a lesson to be learned here. And who better to learn from than the hospitality industry, which works on the basis of effective communication around the clock? At least that's what the healthcare industry is quickly figuring out.